


New House, New Life

by reeby10



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Curtain Fic, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Multi, Shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-01-27
Packaged: 2018-03-09 06:20:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3239501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/pseuds/reeby10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The house was beautiful, but it was more than that, it was a symbol of their new life, of everything they were trying to do together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New House, New Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FreshBrains](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreshBrains/gifts).



> I don't write femslash or poly very much, so I was a little nervous about this, but I wanted to stretch my writerly wings a little with this exchange. I hope it turned out well and I hope you like it, FreshBrains! :)

Shopping for things for a new house was challenging at the best of times, but trying to please three women with incredibly different tastes, two of them who had spent most of their lives living in bland government housing in the few times they were actually home, was a whole new set of problems. Pepper had thought, apparently far too optimistically, that they’d be able to make quick decisions and get most of their shopping done in one day.

She’d been very, very wrong.

They’d started at 9am in the dishware section. Maria was grumpy about using their shared day off to shop for the new house, but Natasha seemed strangely delighted to pick out matching dishes and kitchen gadgets. By 1pm they were all grumpy and more than a little hungry. They’d devolved into petty bickering over napkin patterns and their baskets were less than half full of the things they’d planned to get for the day.

“Ok, let’s do curtains next,” Pepper said, sighing a little as she looked down at her checklist.

Maria groaned, slumping over the handle of the cart. “Can’t we just hire someone for this?” she asked. “It’s not like we’re hurting for money. And we could be doing more fun things with our time.”

“Well, I could call someone...” Pepper said, reaching into her purse and pulling out her phone. “My regular girl is good and I have a list we use at SI when needed.”

“No!”

Pepper and Maria stopped and turned sharply to look at Natasha, surprised at the outburst. Natasha wasn’t generally one to cause a commotion in the middle of a store, or anywhere really, but there were now a few nearby shoppers looking curiously at them. Maria glared at them until they went back to their own business.

“Sorry,” Natasha said, though she didn’t actually sound sorry at all. “I just want to do this ourselves.”

“I’m sure the design girl will give you the colors and everything you want,” Maria said slowly, eyes narrowed, but Natasha shook her head. There was a line between her eyes that said this was more important than what colors she liked.

“I’m not worried about that,” she said. She paused, looking between the two of them for a moment before smiling tenderly. “We’re moving into a new space that will be ours, not just all of us moving in somewhere one of the others already lived or was picked out by someone else. This is… the first time I’ve had something like that.”

Pepper felt her breath catch in her throat at Natasha’s words and she moved forward for a hug, fighting back tears. “I’m sorry, sweetie,” she whispered, planting a light kiss on her lover’s cheek. “I didn’t think about that.”

“I know. It’s alright,” Natasha replied just as quietly, returning the kiss before breaking away to smile crookedly at Maria. “This just means a lot to me.”

Maria nodded, looking contrite, and reached a hand out to Natasha. They stood there, holding hands, for a moment before Maria squeezed her hand and they separated. “Are we ok?”

“Of course.”

Pepper clapped her hands together once, drawing the other women’s attention. “Shall we continue, then?” she asked. “The faster we finish the faster we can get on to… other things.”

They finished shopping in record time.

***

The house turned out beautifully. Pepper knew it would, though there were a few times during their shopping experience that she hadn’t been quite so sure. But somehow, they’d managed to take their disparate design ideas and turn them into something wonderful.

“This is nice,” Pepper said as she settled onto the couch, drink in hand.

Maria sat next to her, a warm line against her side. “I’m just glad we finished,” Maria said. “But you’re right this is… this is good.”

“It is, now shove over,” Natasha declared, trying to squeeze into the space between Pepper and Maria. She dropped into the space, smiling as Pepper curled an arm around her waist and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Thank you, both of you.”

None of them said anything more for awhile, content to cuddle on the couch, drinking and admiring their new house. The house was beautiful, but it was more than that, it was a symbol of their new life, of everything they were trying to do together. That they’d managed to pull together something so wonderful from three so very different people.

It was warm and comfortable, sitting there with the two people she loves most, and Pepper never thought she’d be so lucky. She’d never imagined her life would turn out quite like this, full of love and companionship in a light, airy house that she helped put together.

“Pepper, dear, you’re getting pensive,” Maria said, reaching a hand across the back of the couch to stroke her hair.

Pepper leaned into the touch, eyes half closed, and smiled. “Just thinking,” she murmured. “I’m so lucky to be here with you two.”

“You’re not the only lucky one, you know,” Natasha told her, holding Pepper’s hand up and kissing down her wrist. Maria nodded, giving them both a fond smile. “Without you none of this would have happened. We wouldn’t have happened.”

“It wasn’t just me,” Pepper retorted, flushing a little at the praise and attention.

Maria chuckled. “Just take the praise, Peps,” she advised, eyes dancing with happiness. Pepper was happier than she could say to see that look on Maria’s face after all they’d gone through to get there. “You know you’re the queen of this thing.”

“Mmm, yes, I am the queen,” Pepper replied with a mischievous smile. She raised her glass, shaking it a little. “And this queen would like another drink.”

Natasha shifted like she was going to get up, but Maria put a hand up to stop her. “I have a better idea,” she said, giving them both a heated look. “Why don’t we go ahead and break in the new bed? We can have more drinks afterward.”

Pepper leaned over and kissed her cheek, smiling. “I like the way you think.”

**Author's Note:**

> Concrit welcome. If you like my fic, come chat with me [on tumblr](http://voldiebuns.tumblr.com/) or maybe [buy me a coffee](http://ko-fi.com/A7274PC).


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